World Series
'Cursed' Cubs bring thrills home

America's longest sports championship drought and the "Curse of the Billy Goat" finally could be ended by the Cubs, who have endured decades of futility as "lovable losers"

(Getty/AFP/File)

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For the first time in 71 years, the Chicago Cubs will host a World Series game, the "cursed" Major League Baseball club trying to capture its first crown since 1908.

Excitement for Friday's third game of the best-of-seven final against the Cleveland Indians is already building in the neighborhood around 102-year-old Wrigley Field, which had not been built the last time the Cubs won the title.

"To go to Wrigley on the road, to see that atmosphere... that's something I live for," Indians designated hitter Mike Napoli said.

After splitting two games in Cleveland, the Cubs could capture the crown at home by sweeping games Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

America's longest sports championship drought and the "Curse of the Billy Goat" finally could be ended by the Cubs, who have endured decades of futility as "lovable losers" that not even a regular season-best 103 wins this year can ease.

"It kind of all boils down to how you perform in October," said Cubs team president Theo Epstein, who was the Boston Red Sox general manager in 2004 when they won their first World Series title since 1918.

A Chicago Cubs fan holds up a sign that reads, "Cubs Will!" on October 25, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio

(Getty/AFP/File)

That ended what many saw as the "Curse of the Bambino" that followed the 1920 sale of Babe Ruth to the rival New York Yankees.

For the Cubs, it's a curse dating to the 1945 World Series when Billy Goat Tavern owner Bill Sianis was not allowed to watch game four with his pet goat. After being ejected, Sianis "cursed" the Cubs and they had not returned to the final until now.

The superstitious also point to the black cat that crossed in front of the Cubs dugout during a 1969 game in New York and Chicago would fade out of title contention after that.

"What prevents us from winning?" asked Epstein. "We've got all the ingredients. All we've got to do is go do it."

And curse talk draws only a shrug from the 20-something Cubs like third baseman Kris Bryant.

Goats and scapegoats

Kris Bryant of the Chicago Cubs says, "We're having the time of our lives"

(Getty/AFP)

Of course, the Indians have not won a World Series since 1948, baseball's second-worst drought, and Cleveland teams had a 52-year title drought until the Cavaliers won the NBA crown last June.

The Tribe has a Red Sox-like hoodoo dubbed the "Curse of Rocky Colavito" based on an unpopular 1960 trade of the 1959 top home run hitter to Detroit.

But Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis, a Chicago native and childhood Cubs fan, says the Cubs' curse is by far the worse.

"If curses are real, theirs seems to be a stronger curse," Kipnis said. "If the baseball gods want to take it in their hands, I think it's a serious thing not to let that goat in. I don't know how the baseball gods can ever forgive them.